Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor confirmed he called Karen Read a “wack job c**t” and “retarded” and made light of her Crohn’s disease in texts sent to friends, family, and colleagues during his investigation into Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s death.
“I don’t have an explanation other than they’re regrettable and it’s something I’m not proud of, the language that I used,” he said of his texts.
On the stand, Proctor read through pages of messages exchanged with childhood friends in the hours and days after O’Keefe was found unresponsive on a fellow Boston police officer’s lawn in Canton. The recap below reflects some of those conversations, as they were read aloud in court.
“I’m sure the owner of the house will receive some s***,” one of Proctor’s friends wrote.
“Nope,” Proctor replied. “Homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”
Referring to Read and O’Keefe, he testified that he wrote in other texts, “She waffled him. I looked at his body at the hospital. He was banged up.” In another message, he added: “She hit him with her car.”
“She hot, at least?” one of Proctor’s friends asked at some point.
He said he replied, “She’s a wack job c***. Yes, she’s a babe. Weird Fall River accent, though. No
.” He also testified that he said homeowner Brian Albert, by all accounts, had done nothing wrong.
Under questioning by prosecutor Adam Lally, who introduced the texts, Proctor acknowledged that his messages were “unprofessional and regrettable” and said he shouldn’t have sent them. In other texts, he said he called Read a “nutbag” and wrote, “she’s got a leaky balloon knot. Leaks poo,” in reference to Read’s chronic illness. Read was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 25 and at one point used a colostomy bag.
